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'Lost's' Josh Holloway talks 'Community,' and taking a break from TV
In the home stretch for Season 2, "Community" caused quite a stir when news that "Lost" star, Josh Holloway (SAWYER!) is appearing in the two-part finale airing back-to-back for one hour on May 12.
He plays a mysterious stranger who appears at Greendale and takes part in the reprisal of Season 1's popular paintball episode, which is also an homage to the "Spaghetti Western" made famous in the 60s by Italian director, Sergio Leone.
"It's a fun role," Holloway says in an interview with TV Guide. "I loved those guys. I had a really good time and they were so awesome. I'd worked with Chevy [Chase] before on a movie so I was honored to get to work with him again, and the rest of the cast."
And according to Gillian Jacobs, who plays Britta, they enjoyed him right back. "He's a hunk and he looks excellent in his costume," she tells Zap2it on our set visit for the finale. "More importantly, we loved having him around, because he laughed at all our jokes. For some reason, he found us incredibly funny. And that's really important at 4 a.m."
And Holloway confirms what Jacobs says, "They're all so funny! They're really tight with their comedy. It's rhythmic. It makes me feel so not very funny being around them. I was a little like, 'Uh oh. I'm not funny. I've got no rhythm.' But it worked out."
Of course, the laughs didn't come with some tradeoff for the "Lost" star. Yvette Nicole Brown, who plays Shirley, tells us that the cast flooded Holloway with "Lost" questions. Is that not a dream come true?
It sounds like we may need to savor Holloway's appearance in the finale, because the star has his sights set on the big screen.
"Well, right now I'm giving [TV] a break because you have to sign that rather lengthy contract," he explains. "But I'm open with TV still. TV has changed quite a bit, even since 'Lost.' There's a lot of great TV out there now, but I'm giving movies a shot, while I can."
Are you excited to see Holloway wield the big paint guns on the "Community" finale?
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Photo/Video credit: ABC
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I love Josh!!
Can you all everybody turn comments on the LOST blog back on?
(blog.zap2it.com/lost/2010/06/lost-it-only-ends-once.html)
Some of us long-time members are starting to rewatch LOST and would like to keep in touch on the blog that was a part of our lives for so many years.
Anthony -- if you're reading this I rented the first season (only $3) and am already half way through it -- and loving seeing the episodes again even more than I thought I would!
(I'll wait to make specific comments until I know it is somewhere you -- and perhaps others -- will see it.)
Looking forward to seeing Sawyer on Community, the paintball episode is one of their best so this should definitely be good as well.
Op/Con-Glad to hear you got into the first season again. I'm almost at the end of it, through Episode 20 (Do No Harm). I'll try to keep this short, but I remember how powerful Boone's death was then, and even now, you see how it raised the stakes for the show. And when I've watched The End again, the moment where Jack sees Boone in the church is very powerful to me. Jack's carried that weight on his shoulders all this time, and when he spots Boone again, you can see the relief on his face that Boone made it along with most everyone else.
If you see this, Op/Con, hopefully we can find a place to continue discussing it. Enjoy the rest of Season 1.
Hi Anthony!
I've been checking every few days hoping you'd see my comment -- glad you did!
I'm most of the way through season one too -- I also found "Do No Harm" just as powerful this time around.
I know I had a lot (A LOT) of thoughts as I watched the episodes, but since the comments were disabled on the it-only-ends-once thread I didn't bother posting them, figuring the odds are nobody would check here. Now I wish I had.
Actually, I think if I think about it a little while I'll probably remember most of my comments. I'll post them later here tonight. But I wanted to let you know right away that I just saw your comment.
If you know how to get hold of any of the other commenters send them here... I imagine comments won't be disabled for months. Or if you think somewhere else is better (that doesn't require registering with one's real name) let me know.
Hi again Anthony (and anyone else reading). I'll write more in a day or two, but for now the main things that stick out from my rewatching of season 1 (so far) are:
1) The incredible quality of each episode -- and even scene -- in all aspects, from the writing and acting to the stunning, high-quality visual texture (and all the seamless special effects that make Hawaii pass for Australia and so many other places).
2) I love the characters even more than before -- I still don't understand all the Kate hate... she is a really caring person (on island) except for when she gets frightened into thinking she absolutely must be on that raft and then briefly resorts to her old ways.
3) The biggest thing that really struck me so far is how evil John Locke is in one of the early episodes -- we all (including me) tend to think of him as this great guy from "Walkabout" who did lots of good things for people on the island and ended up getting royally screwed (strangled by Ben).
But watching it again I was really, really struck by an extremely overtly evil act he did on-island that very nearly resulted in the death of another major character (Sawyer). Not only does Locke not reveal (until near the end of the season) that he was the one who knocked Sayid out (when he was attempted to triangulate the position of the french distress call transmitter), he strongly implies that it was Sawyer and GIVES A KNIFE to Sayid -- the very knife that Sayid nearly kills Sawyer with!
Had Jack not been there to save Sawyer's life, Locke would be guilty of some kind of major murder accessory crime. And note that it was on-island (not in the past as with Kate's and Sawyer's crimes), and completely intentional and unjust (whereas one could argue that the people that Kate and Sawyer intended to kill perhaps deserved it) (and the death of Kate's love in the car crash was an accident -- even though she [correctly] blames herself and feels such guilt over it).
And of course Charlie's killing of Ethan is also perhaps justified as self defense (since he killed first and likely would have killed again).
So this completely evil action by Locke really is something unique I think amongst the on-island (unless I'm forgetting something), and I was surprised it never registered before. (Perhaps because I started watching LOST late in the first season, and thus saw many of the early episodes when they were rerun -- after I'd already seen episodes from later in the first season.)
Okay, well I guess I'm back to my rambling ways! Better sign off for now... I'll probably write more in a few days (after watching the rest of the first season).
Me again. Just remembered a couple more things:
1)Even in Walkabout, that Locke's adding machine sounds a lot like Smokey! And we're talking the fourth episode of the first season here! Maybe the writers were doing some really advanced foreshadowing here (of what would happen at the end of season five). If so, I have to admit I'm impressed.
And of course as others noted long ago, after finding Walt's dog in Tabula Rasa [I think], the episode ends with him having a very sinister expression. Guess that should have been a clue that Locke isn't as good as he so often seems. Very complex character.
2) Darn... forgot the other thing I was going to say.
Hey again Op/Con, I'm getting ready to watch the end of Season 1 in a bit, but I read your comments and I think you hit on a lot of good points. You can see how hard everyone was working to make this show great in the beginning, practically every episode was top-notch, from the visuals to the acting and writing.
I still fail to see why Evangeline Lilly's acting was received somewhat negatively. Yes, the creators wanted her to be the heroine, but I don't think it was shoved down our throats. I think I mentioned after watching Tabula Rasa how it seemed like she took Jack's words seriously about starting over. She was most definitely a valuable contributor around camp, someone the others looked to when Jack wasn't there, and of course, she was always up for an adventure. The fact that Lilly didn't have to carry a huge load with the diverse and large cast, gave her time to grow into the role, and I think she was a standout by Season 3. That said, I thought she did a good job in the beginning, as did the entire cast.
I will probably think of a few more things after I watch Exodus, but until then, keep posting Op/Con. Will you be moving on to further seasons? Look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Anthony! I'm just about to watch the two-hour season one finale, and then yes I plan to rent and start watching season two within the next day or two.
Looks like zap2it is making it even harder to people to find Ryan's old blog by how they reorganized what happens when you type www.zap2it.com/lost -- you have to scroll down quite a bit (eighteen articles as of this writing) before you get to Ryan's old blog.
So much for my hope that zap2it might reconsider and re-enable comments there... doesn't look like anyone else has found our new thread here yet.
Speaking of this thread, I don't understand why it isn't listed under the aforementioned www.zap2it.com/lost list -- even though the earlier (March 1st) article that mentions Josh Holloway being on community is!
Hopefully it is just an oversight that will soon be corrected. If not, we may want to put a link to this thread in comment section of the March 1st article.
Okay, I'll write more tomorrow -- right now I want to watch the finale. Until then...
Actually, now that I think about it, I kind of like that zap2it is organizing all LOST-related articles under one roof (so to speak).
I just wish they'd still allow commenting on the final Ryan blog forever. Though commenting on this thread is works okay (assuming they are planning to put put a reference to this article in the zap2it.com/lost list).
Hey Op/Con...watched Exodus on Friday like I planned, still quality television. However, I felt a little bit of a letdown this time around. I think part of the reason is that I'm soon moving on to Season 2, where the action drags a bit after the great opening episode. Also, the introduction of Ana Lucia...eh. For whatever reason, she just never fit into this show. I guess I feel like once the show moved away at times from focusing on our Season 1 heroes, it wasn't quite as exciting. Episodes like The Other 48 Days, for example. I think a lot of viewers, from what I read on here, liked that episode a lot. But every time I watch it, I think "Let's get back to Jack...and Kate...and Hurley...and Sawyer...and Locke...", and you get the idea. Anyway, at least there's Desmond to look forward to.
I do still get the chuckles out of Hurley's interactions with Arzt. And of course, when he blows up, how it can be shocking yet funny when Hurley tells Jack he's got some "Arzt" on him. I also wanted to mention Jack and Kate's conversation near the end. I think both of them were right, especially Jack. Ironic that it's Locke who told him he was looked at as a leader, and rarely comes to Jack for anything. I think when Kate, who is supposed to have his back, questions his decisions, Jack's finally had enough of being second-guessed and takes his stand. But at the same time, should he really be carrying unstable dynamite as the only doctor in the group? Always something to think about, even after several viewings. Curious to hear your thoughts, Op/Con, until next time.